Saturday, August 01, 2009

Perfect Sound Forever- Aug/Sept 09 edition now online

BLURBrit-pop out of focus?"One can picture Blur dressed as pubescent schoolboys in an overexposed black and white pinup, smoking cigarettes in the loo, disinterested with and defeated by life. Picture them being huffed, puffed, blown away, and then run over by the Rolls Royces of Britain's big-bad-wolf band, Oasis."

MILES DAVISHis late live period"He seemed so short. And dark—darker than I realized from photographs in magazines and on album covers, with chiseled features and solemn eyes. Because a battery-charged microphone was clipped to the bell of his trumpet, he was, unlike the rest of his seven-piece band, free to wander. Seldom facing the audience, he moved from one side of the stage to the other..."

CHRISTOS HATZISComposer goes throat singing"The quick guttural inhaling/exhaling songs of two competing singers meet and match in their games, one following the other like quick birds racing in flight, and end not on a note of triumph, but with the mutual release of laughter. Greek-Canadian composer Christos Hatzis has written several works exploring the interaction of this atavistic style with modern Westernmusic and recording techniques."

HOLGER HILLERModernist sampling mystery"Since the start of his professional career at the end of the '70's, Holger Hiller has been one of the most prolific and underrated avant garde pop artists/composers in Germany. Although his records were released worldwide by the noted British label Mute Records, his music and his personal history remains obscure to this day."

HUGH HOPPER TRIBUTE"Hugh Hopper departed this world on June 7, 2009, victim of leukemia, as curiously his previous collaborator, keyboardist Alan Gowen had, almost three decades ago. Hopper was, on his own, a revolutionary bassist and composer who found early exposure in the 1960's but never gained the exposure he really deserved during his lifetime. He still, however, managed to put out animpressive body of work."

OAK RIDGE BOYSGospel, country hits & still alive"... the last remaining country quartet, The Oak Ridge Boys, continue their longstanding tradition of harmony. Since their inception in 1945 as The Georgia Clodhoppers to the present line-up beginning in 1972, Duane Allen, lead; Joe Bonsall, tenor; William Lee Golden, baritone; Richard Sterban, bass – along with multi-talented band members – The Oaks have kept the musical flame burning."

PANDA BEARAnimal Collective interview"... Panda Bear's "My Girls"... sounds at once meditative and danceable, like a bridge between Brazilian samba and AR Kane. Both this song and others... owe a considerable debt to "Person Pitch," marking the extent to which Noah Lennox (a.k.a. Panda Bear) has contributed to an album which, finally, seems the definitive statement of the Collective's elaborate pop bent."

MORGAN POWELLTrombonist/composer- interview"Despite having been thought the jazz trombone phenom of his generation, however, even in his teens, Powell was turning down invitations to join the big bands, Stan Kenton's included. Rather, he earned his master's in composition at North Texas State University, absorbing the canon of modernism under the tutelage of Samuel Adler."

THE REPLACEMENTSA live remembrance"Without question, the Replacements, one of the best and most influential post-punk bands of the last twenty-five years, roared their way through the 1980's like kamikazes on stage--loaded on chutzpah, frustration, and beer."

ROSSYLN MOUNTAIN BOYSStill looking for Honky Tonk Heaven"Joe Triplett is, by all accounts, exceedingly modest, which goes some distance to explain why today, only dedicated fans still remember the Rosslyn Mountain Boys. These folks tend to agree that the band should have been known and loved from California to the New York islands, rather than from Gaithersburg, Maryland, to Alexandria, Virginia."

BRITNEY SPEARSWhy she won't go away"Spears' detractors dismiss her, pointing to the many writers and producers featured on her recordings, an argument infrequently used when evaluating, say, Annie Lennox, another singer with a penchant for electronic enhancement."

JACK STARR & RON HAYDOCKOf rockabilly & B-movie obscurity"Jack Starr and Ron Haydock, speak for everyone who has puts something, anything down fearlessly to posterity, hoping that someone will find it and bring them some immortality, someday. They also speak for those who had no time for that kind of sh-t, and instead focused on getting out as much juice while it lasted."

VINYL ANACHRONISTMad as hell about prices"I've been slowly selling off the more opulent pieces in my audio system because, quite frankly, times are tough. It's difficult to put off getting your kids braces when you have a $15,000 analog rig in your living room where everyone can see. Once the economy recovers, I'll rebuild. It will be fun."

YOUNG MARBLE GIANTSThe resurrection of..."... as their reunion gig in 2007 was at a book festival, perhaps these appearances are not out of character for the post-punk minimalist legends. After an exile of some decades, YMG have re-emerged, sort of. Dates are sporadic. Gigs are low-key. New material is absent. This is how they want it."

YELLOWMANInna dancehall style"The stage name "Yellowman" is a reference to his albinism which set him apart from the rest of Jamaican society and must have been a serious handicap during his childhood... As we'll see, part of what makes his career so vital is that he helped to smooth the transition between the roots era and the new dancehall style."